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Victor Herbert: A Life in Music (Da Capo Press music reprint series)

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Edward Waters worked for years researching the life of Victor Herbert(1859-1924)and wrote a thorough and beautifully written biography of one of America's greatest composers (and one who needs to be better remembered today). This work covers Victor Herbert's life as a child in Ireland and a young musician in Germany, his marriage to Therese Forester (a young singer at the Vienna Opera), their move to the United States in 1886, his early years as a cello solist and leader of Gilmore's Band, and his six years as the conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and composer of classical and march music. Most of the book concentrates on the many years he worked as a composer of music for the 41 operettas and Broadway shows and the two operas for which he is best remembered. This biography is the best record of Herbert's life and should be read by anyone with an interest in Victor Herbert or Broadway shows and comic opera during the 1894-1924 period.